With the advent of personal communications systems operating in the 800/900 MHz and the 1.7 to 2.0 gigahertz ranges which have been developed for outside use as well as for use internally of office and industrial buildings, the need for effective antennas distributed locally throughout such buildings has increased. Although the technology for such antennas exists and such antennas can be neatly and compactly packaged, the need for small and attractive packaging and easy flush mounting of such antennas on walls and ceilings remains.
Although antennas designed for in-building communication systems can generally be implemented as relatively compact packages, for a variety of reasons, including unencumbered propagation of radio frequencies and of signal propagation, antennas cannot usually be hidden from view above or inside ceilings or inside the walls. Instead, the antennas must be suspended from ceilings or walls where they may be easily seen, and where they are more susceptible to visual inspection and to damage than are hidden installations.
Some antenna designs are inherently fragile, and in order to minimize the possibility of damage a protective cover or radome is generally installed over the antenna. Little effort has been expended on aesthetically pleasing designs for such protective covers, nor has the issue of mounting an antenna assembly in an exposed yet unobtrusive manner been satisfactorily addressed.
In the past, installations much like those used for suspending ceiling fixtures have sometimes been used for antenna assemblies like those assemblies described above. In such instances an electrical box-like structure is mounted flush with a ceiling or wall, is wired with suitable RF cable, and the antenna assembly is attached with visible screws, for example. Installation of electrical boxes requires the use of special tools, are expensive and are cumbersome for low-power antenna systems.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved flush mounting system for a PCS or like antenna assembly.